Supreme award for innovation

Plant & Food Research has been recognised for its innovation, winning the Supreme Innovator Award and the Sustainability & Cleantech category in this year’s New Zealand Innovators Awards, for research that will change the way the world fishes.

Precision Seafood Harvesting is a Ministry for Primary Industries Primary Growth Partnership programme created to commercialise technology developed by scientists at Plant & Food Research. The programme, co-funded by Sealord, Aotearoa Fisheries and Sanford, is optimising technology that targets specific species and fish sizes, enables the release at depth of juveniles and lands fish in a semi-rested state. This reduces non-target species taken and maintains the health of fish stocks. The use of the system is expected to increase GDP by $43.6 million per annum by 2025.

Another Plant & Food Research project, breeding bees with resistance to the fatal varroa mite, was a finalist in the Argriculture & Environment category.

The New Zealand Innovators Awards aim to celebrate and recognise innovative high growth New Zealand organisations and put them on a national stage to celebrate innovation and commercialisation. This year’s awards were presented at a celebration event held at Auckland’s Shed 10.

For more information on the development of the Precision Seafood Harvesting technology, see http://www.plantandfood.co.nz/growingfutures/case-studies/selective-wildfish-harvesting.

For more information on the bee breeding programme, see http://www.plantandfood.co.nz/growingfutures/case-studies/bees-to-combat-varroa.